72 



MISS NELLIE BANCEOET ON SOME 



longitudinal sections of the leafy twigs (PL 7. figs. 3/ & 7). No structure can be 

 definitely determined, though the impression is given of leaves surrounding a central 

 stem, the leaf-sections having a vascular bundle, a fair amount of palisade mesophyll, 

 and a definite epidermis. In general outline and arrangement of parts there is agreement 

 with sections of the leafy twigs of some recent Cupressinese, but this, of course, is to be 

 expected from the form of the twigs. 





Coniferous Wood. 

 In blocks II. and III. there are several examples of coniferous wood (PI. 8. fig. 17 b), 



m 



which in section shows, more or less indefinitely, narrow medullary rays and bordered 

 pits, such as Hollick and Jeffrey figure for Brachyoxylon notaUle {cf. n, p. 56, pi. 13. 

 fig. 3, with PI. 7. fig. 8). No examples of flattened or alternating pits were seen. There 

 is the possibility that the wood originally belonged to the same plant as the leafy twigs, 

 though there is no evidence of this beyond the association of the plant-remains in the 

 blocks. The wood is fragmentary and too ill-preserved to allow of reference to any 

 genus or species. 



CoNiPEROCArLON, Mche. 



CONIFEROCATJLON Sp. 



Block III. shows a portion of a large stem, 14 cms. long by 10 cms. wide (PI. 9. fig. 2). 

 The stem has externally the appearance of a Zamia without leaf-bases, e. y.^ Z. Skinneri 

 or Z. Loddegesii (Seward, 24, pi. 14, figs. 1 & 2). The surface is irregularly grooved 

 in a transverse direction, with occasional elliptical protuberances. No leaf-scars can be 

 distinguished. The Interior of the stem is occupied by a much-shattered woody cylinder. 

 "What appears to be the reverse of the external layers of this stem is represented on the 

 surface of the block (PI. 7. fig. 19). 



Seward refers to a Lower Greensand type showing external characters somewhat 

 similar to those of the Indian stem, as Benstedtia (24), substituting this name as not 

 implying any particular afiB.nity, for the more definite name Draccdna Benstedtii given 

 by Konig, following Mackie's suggestion that the stem was very like that of a Draccena 

 (14). Fliche (10) figures a stem-fragment from the Lower Cretaceous of Saint-Dizier, 

 similar externally to the stem described above. He notices the resemblance, in the 

 external features at least, to the Araucarias of the Colymbsea section, and definitely 

 refers the stem to the Araucarian Coniferse (p. 7), naming it Coniferocaulon colymbece- 

 forme, 



A similar stem is recorded from the Uitenhage Series of South Africa (Upper Jurassic 

 or VVealden Age). It is compared with Fliche's stem, but the name Benstedtia is adopted 

 as the more non-committal term (29, p. 34; pi. v. fig. 2; text-fig. 5). In his description 

 of the Jurassic Mora of Sutherland, however, Seward (31, p. 690, pi. ix. fig. 41) refers 

 a stem showing externally irregular transverse wrinklings to Caniferocaulon, on account 

 of the narrowness of the pith, a character which suggests coniferous affinities rather than 

 cycadean. In a footnote he mentions that Dr. Stopes, in the course of her examination 

 of the British Museum Benstedtias, has found traces of xylem elements with pits of 



